The Internet is growing rapidly and has emerged as a significant interactive medium for entertainment, communications, research, education and e-commerce. However, Internet access generally requires a personal computer, and some consumers may have little need or desire for a personal computer, either because it can be costly, or because it can be difficult or complicated to use. For such consumers, it may be preferable to receive electronic information and entertainment services through their television sets. A television-based approach to e-commerce would appear to be an attractive alternative for many of these consumers.
Interactive television is developing rapidly and permits the viewer to participate in a wide range of activities, such as information retrieval, video games, and purchasing of goods and services. In a traditional cable or satellite television system, a set top box receives multiple channels of programming content from a cable or satellite television operator, and transmits to the television receiver the specific programming content on a channel selected by the viewer. The transmission of information occurs in one direction only, from the cable operator, via the set top box, to the television receiver for viewing by the viewer. In an interactive television system, by contrast, the set top box also functions as an intelligent communications terminal, and is able to store and run application programs that permit two-way communications between the viewer and the cable operator to support a wide variety of interactive functions.
Cable television system operators, referred to here as multiple system operators (MSO), are currently deploying digital broadband delivery systems (DBDS's) capable of supporting interactive television commerce. The terminology used here is essentially that of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., but the components described could be used in other systems. DBDS allows the MSOs to offer their subscribers digital content that looks better than cable transmitted analog programs, and allows more digital channels to run on the same cable wire (at least 8 times as many). DBDS also offers two-way messaging between the cable network and set top boxes, allowing MSOs to offer customers interactive applications such as near video on demand and email. DBDS is designed as a client server network with client applications running on set top boxes that communicate with an application server that provides the content for the client applications.
DBDS has several components that work together to deliver these broadband digital services to consumers. Analog set top boxes are replaced by digital set top boxes, referred to as digital home communications terminals (DHCTs). A DHCT is essentially a small network computer that provides a subscriber with the ability to run multiple applications. It also provides Internet protocol (IP) connectivity back to a server via a hybrid fiber coax (HFC) line wired to the subscriber's home to allow an application running on the DHCT to interact with the DBDS.
A digital network control system (DNCS) is a server, typically UNIX based, that controls the configuration of the entire DBDS, routine DBDS maintenance, SNMP monitoring, the broadcasting of data to the set tops, and the registering of additional applications that run on the DBDS. One DNCS can currently handle up to two hundred thousand subscribers.
A broadcast file system (BFS) is a component of the DNCS and is essentially a file system containing system data (such as DHCT configurations) and application data. This file system is continuously broadcast in a carousel fashion over the DBDS via an in-band data path (IDP) and an out-of-band data path (ODP). DHCTs can then access the BFS in much the same way that a PC accesses a hard drive.
The IDP is a 27 Mbps data channel that the DHCTs tune to, much like any other programming channel. The path is physically provided by a broadband integrated gateway (BIG) and an in-band quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM). In essence, these pieces of hardware are employed to create a 27 Mbps path over which the BFS is continuously broadcast to the DHCTs. Once the DHCT is tuned to the data channel, it can read the BFS data carousel at this high speed. This is useful for loading a new application on the DHCT as well as in any situation where fast access to the BFS is required. The IDP is one-way; no programming content can be received while the IDP data is being read.
The ODP is a data channel that can be accessed while programming content is being sent to the DHCT. The two components that make up the ODP are a forward data channel (FDC) that broadcasts out to the DHCTs and a reverse data channel (RDC) that receives data from the DHCTs, both at T1 speed. The FDC interface to the HFC is provided by a quaternary phase shift key (QPSK) modulator. The RDC interface to the HFC is provided by a QPSK demodulator. In essence, this equipment functions as a modem to bridge the HEC to an Ethernet component of the DBDS. The FDC and RDC are used by server applications to communicate with the DHCTs.
Cable head end application servers reside on the same IP network as the DNCS, and provide a hardware platform for running server based software applications that will be provisioned to the DHCTs, such as near video on demand and email. Services that run in the DBDS have a component running on the application server and are registered with the DNCS.
While it is common on television to provide informational messages to viewers independently of any programming content, such as in the case of severe whether warnings, it is more useful and beneficial, particularly where the informational message is intended to elicit a response, to be able to have such message displayed in conjunction with the particular program to which the message relates. For example, a viewer may be given the opportunity to register his or her assessment of the television program being viewed, to indicate his her desire to receive marketing or promotional materials or samples of a particular product or service being advertised on that program, or even to purchase such products and services. Viewing the information message in conjunction with a related program creates a sense of immediacy or urgency that increases the likelihood of the viewer responding to the message.
In such a system, it is critical that the informational messages be available for display to the viewer at the appropriate point within the associated program. If, for example, the intention is to solicit the viewer's interest in receiving a glossy brochure on a particular automobile during a commercial for that same automobile, then it is important that this message be available only during the typical 30-second duration of such a commercial. Receiving the message before the commercial might confuse or even irritate the viewer, since it would not be clear why the apparently unrelated message is being displayed. Conversely, if the message appears after the commercial has ended and the sleek, gleaming vehicle is no longer visible on the screen, the viewer's excitement and interest in the vehicle might have already faded.
Although it is possible to use pre-existing program schedule information, including time and channel, to establish a relationship between a viewer's request for information and the programming being viewed at the time of the request, such an approach is subject to schedule errors and unforeseen schedule changes. Often, precise schedules of commercial messages are simply not available to third-party television commerce service providers.
What is needed is a system for providing interactive e-commerce on a television distribution network, that can reliably synchronize the delivery of product related information to the programming to which the information is related. The system should provide notification to the viewer in a timely manner of the availability of such information, respond promptly to user requests for the information, and avoid reliance on program schedule information, such as time or channel, in order to correctly retrieve the desired product information for the user.